Architecture firm will move from Bellevue to Seattle

MulvannyG2 Architecture, long a fixture in Bellevue, will move its headquarters and some 200 employees to downtown Seattle next year, in what it describes as part of a long-term plan to lower costs and attract the best designers.

The company, founded in 1971 in Bellevue, said it plans to move into 63,000 square feet of office space at 1101 Second Ave. in June 2015 under a 15-year lease.

MulvannyG2 will completely vacate its Bellevue office campus at 112th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 12th Street, where its name is visible from Interstate 405.

CEO Mitchell Smith said Friday in an interview that the move will save the privately held firm a lot of money over the long term, though he declined to be specific.

Equally important, Seattle is “the largest pool of design talent in the area,” said Smith.

“The quality and expertise of our staff is essential in being able to serve our clients in the best way,” he said.

That move won’t come without longer commutes for some, including Smith, who lives in Issaquah. About 200 of the firm’s 350 employees work at the Bellevue headquarters. It also has offices in Portland, Ore.; Irvine, Calif.; Washington, D.C.; and Shanghai.

MulvannyG2, like other local design firms, does business globally. With other partners, it’s working on a 9 million-square-foot mixed-use project in Hangzhou, China. Last year it worked on projects in South Korea, Japan, India and Mexico, among others.